Until recently, my hair has always been on the short side. As a child, my mom loved to approve of the bowl cut, and eventually let me have hair a few inches past my shoulders. I was convinced my hair just wouldn’t grow longer than that, but in reality it was my hair dresser who refused to let it grow any further.
So I grew up with a complex about my hair, among other things, always admiring the other girls who had long, beautiful hair when mine would just not grow. As an adult, after chopping off my hair to chin-to-shoulder length for the ease of it during college and for a show I was in shortly after, I let my hair grow. I’ve had a few trims here and there, but basically I’ve been all about the long hair style. My boyfriend loves long hair on me, and even though I never know what to do with it, I admit it’s the more flattering for my round ball head than most other looks.
But with my new job and my dedication to creating a professional image for myself, I’m torn. Do I cut my hair off and look corporate slick, or keep the hair long the way I (and my boyfriend) like it and just wear a bun or something when I’m at the office. It’s not like I work in New York, and business casual around here is a little looser to define than in some other environments. However, if I’m going to be doing any world travel, the culture quickly changes, and I want to look like I mean business.
It’s kind of amazing how many powerful women have short haircuts. Just look at the list of
Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women of 2009 and you’ll see what I mean. Granted, most of them are in their 40s and 50s when a short hair style makes more sense, but most of them have short, really manly hair styles. It doesn’t even look that good, but I guess it makes them less sexually desirable by men, so they could be taken seriously. It makes me sad to think that might be true, but why else would all these high-power women want a crop top? Just to limit prep time? I’m not so sure.
In addition to figuring out what hair style to get (likely I’ll just go for the trim this time around), I need to figure out how often to get my hair cut. Up until now I’ve lived by the two cuts a year rule. I think it’s silly to spend money getting any more hair cuts, really. I feel like it’s a huge conspiracy by the hair dressers who want you to pay them more often. That said, my hair probably could use to be cut more often than twice a year. And with this image makeover I’m doing for myself, getting a trim every 8 weeks won’t kill my budget, and may help a lot with my overall presentation.
What do you think? How often do you get your hair cut? What style do you wear and is it appropriate for your job?
